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Vegan Lentil Soup with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Cumin

This Vegan Lentil Soup with Spinach and Tomatoes has plenty of flavor from the cumin and other spices and this tasty soup is meatless, low-glycemic, South Beach Diet Phase One, dairy-free, vegan, and gluten-free. Use the Recipes-by-Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

In Utah we're having a burst of spring-like weather lately. Not that I would ever complain about spring coming early, but all winter I've been cooking and re-photographing some of my favorite soups from the past and now I'm feeling like I need to get them posted before it really is spring.

My love of lentils is pretty well documented on the blog, and this lentil soup from 2008 is made mostly from simple pantry ingredients, but it's loaded with flavor due to the cumin seeds, ground coriander, onions, garlic, and paprika that flavor the soup. This delightful soup is vegan, but if you don't care about that I'd love this with a generous dollop of Greek yogurt added at the table.

I was happy when I found this recipe in The Sugar Solution Cookbook, a collection of low-glycemic recipes published by the editors of Prevention Magazine. Everything about this soup sounded good, and I really didn't change it much except for using vegetable stock in place of water. The soup has a strong cumin flavor, which was one of the things I loved, and it was the perfect way to use up the last bit of one of those huge tubs of spinach from Costco.

(Vegan Lentil Soup with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Cumin was updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, March 2014.)

In a large dutch oven type pan that will hold all the soup ingredients, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the cumin seeds, stirring a few times, until they're fragrant and starting to pop, about 3 minutes. (If you're a cumin fan like I am, you might even use a little more cumin.)

Then add the onion, minced garlic, ground coriander, and black pepper and cook until the onions are softened and starting to slightly brown, about 4 minutes. Add the paprika and cook about 1 minute more.

Measure 1 1/2 cups of plain brown lentils. (Lentils that are fresh will cook more quickly than those that have been sitting on the shelf in the store or in your pantry.)

Add the lentils and vegetable broth, bring to a slight boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 30-40 minutes or until the lentils are quite tender.

Here's how the soup looked once the lentils were done.

While the lentils cook, wash the spinach if needed and finely chop.

Add the can of tomatoes and chopped spinach to the soup (and a little more vegetable stock if needed) and cook about 30 more minutes, or until the spinach is done and the flavors have blended. Serve hot.

And just for fun, here's the one and only photo from this soup when I first posted it in 2008.

Heat olive oil in large heavy dutch oven, add cumin seeds and cook over medium heat until fragrant and starting to pop, about 3 minutes. (Stir a few times so they don't burn.) Stir in onion, minced garlic, ground coriander, and black pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the paprika and cook about 1 minute more.

Add lentils and vegetable broth, bring to a low boil and then reduce heat, and simmer uncovered about 30-40 minutes, or until lentils are quite tender. (Depending on how much water has evaporated and how much the lentils have expanded you may want to add another can of broth or some water at this point. I added a whole can more vegetable broth)

Add diced tomatoes and juice and chopped spinach and simmer uncovered 20-30 more minutes, until soup ingredients are well blended and lentils are starting to break apart. Season to taste with salt and serve hot.

This soup is a perfect dish for low-glycemic diets or any phase of the South Beach Diet, but dried beans and lentils are a limited food for South Beach Phase One. This is probably too high on carbs for traditional low-carb diet plans.

Nutritional Information?
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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

That looks absolutely gorgeous Kalyn! A really nice combination of flavours that seem so obvious as I read the recipe, but I would have never thought of putiing them together!Thank you for getting our new challenge of to a good start!

Oh, it looks so good, Kalyn! I have a surplus of lentils just waiting to be used. Oddly enough, I made a very similar soup for the No Croutons event -- mine combines barley with lentils. I can hardly wait to see what other veggie soups people are making for the event.

I discovered your blog yesterday, spent all morning copying and pasting great-looking recipes, and made this soup tonight for dinner. It was.... amazing! One of most delicious soups I have had in a long time. I made it with red lentils and fresh tomatoes, since they were all I had on hand, so I can attest to these modifications as well. Thanks so much, Kalyn!- a newbie SouthBeacher

yum-MO!! I just made this soup and it is sooo good! I posted a link to your recipe on Twitter Sunday but it is so good, I am going to post it again. Not only is the presentation gorgeous thanks to the spinach and tomato (I used fresh, as I had some that were turning soon) but it's sooo yummy, I'm going back for healthy seconds. Thx a million and keep it up!

Thanks to google, I found your fantastic recipe. Embellished it a bit with a sweet potato and some pre-cooked wheatberries. A great meal in one bowl. Good thing it turned out well-- I doubled it! Thanks so much.

I agree with you about getting our soups on before spring is sprung and wanted to do something like this today. I have all the ingredients and will be enjoying this tonight! Once again, you've combined foods I love in a way I might never have imagined. Thanks, Kalyn.

Thanks Alisa. I think most grocery stores will have cumin seed, or an Indian or mediterranean grocer will have it. Since it's simmered along time, I think the seeds will really be better, but if you can't find any I'd use slightly less ground cumin. Then towards the end, taste the soup and see if you want to add more.

I'm so happy you're taking the time to comment on Kalyn's Kitchen! I love hearing from people who stop by, especially if you're sharing feedback or asking questions about a recipe I've posted here.

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